----- Original Message ----- From: "linda spear" <lspear@rochester.rr.com> To: <CT-RIVER-VALLEY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, November 24, 2000 12:53 PM Subject: [CRV] what is a "hog reef" > My husband has an ancestor who was elected "hog reef" in Surry NH in 1772. What was that "high office"? > > Thanks for any clues. > > Linda Spear It's "hog reeve," aka "hog howard." Responsible for seeing that free-ranging hogs don't destroy crops, are properly earmarked, have nose rings, etc. (Nose rings were used to control 600-lb. hogs -- clip on a leash or stick with a hook and lead them back home. They had to follow, or the ring would hurt.) Yrs aye, Warren Wetmore > > ==== CT-RIVER-VALLEY Mailing List ==== > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl ...type in Ct-River Valley or other mailing list > http://www.acpl.lib.in.us [large genealogy library in Indiana] > > http://www.quadrangle.org (genealogical lib for Conn River area) > > ============================== > Shop Ancestry - Everything you need to Discover, Preserve & Celebrate > your heritage! > http://shop.myfamily.com/ancestrycatalog >

Folks, you have been wonderful. Thanks for the many responses to my query about our ancestor's election to office. Someone had to round up those loose hogs. Linda Spear

----- Original Message ----- From: "linda spear" <lspear@rochester.rr.com> To: <CT-RIVER-VALLEY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, November 24, 2000 3:25 PM Subject: Re: [CRV] what is a "hog reef" > Folks, you have been wonderful. Thanks for the many responses to my query > about our ancestor's election to office. Someone had to round up those > loose hogs. > > Linda Spear That's a very good one-sentence summation. One of the important features of this is that hogs and cattle were pastured not on private property but on the commons that belonged to the village. "Hog pen"? What's that? Hogs typically were put out in the woods to forage for acorns and roots. But being intelligent animals they sometimes figured out that pickings were easier in private vegetable gardens and orchards. So the hog reeve got on their case. Sort of a pig policeman, you might say. Yrs aye, Warren Wetmore > > ==== CT-RIVER-VALLEY Mailing List ==== > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > http://www.quadrangle.org [CRV musuem and genealogy library] > List owner: NewEnglander1620@mail.ccsinet.net > > ============================== > Create a FREE family website at MyFamily.com! > http://www.myfamily.com/banner.asp?ID=RWLIST2 >

Another important position was the "Fence Viewer", who had to make sure the fences were in working order. Also the "Drum Beater, sometimes a young boy, who called people to the Meeting House on the Sabbath, for which attendance was mandatory. No excuses. Carl Hommel From: Warren Wetmore <WebMerlin@MegsINet.net> To: <CT-RIVER-VALLEY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2000 12:05 AM Subject: Re: [CRV] what is a "hog reef" > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "linda spear" <lspear@rochester.rr.com> > To: <CT-RIVER-VALLEY-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Friday, November 24, 2000 3:25 PM > Subject: Re: [CRV] what is a "hog reef" > > > > Folks, you have been wonderful. Thanks for the many responses to my query > > about our ancestor's election to office. Someone had to round up those > > loose hogs. > > > > Linda Spear > > That's a very good one-sentence summation. > > One of the important features of this is that hogs and cattle were pastured not on private property but on the commons that belonged to the village. > > "Hog pen"? What's that? Hogs typically were put out in the woods to forage for acorns and roots. But being intelligent animals they sometimes figured out that pickings were easier in private vegetable gardens and orchards. So the hog reeve got on their case. > > Sort of a pig policeman, you might say. > > Yrs aye, > > Warren Wetmore > > > > > > > ==== CT-RIVER-VALLEY Mailing List ==== > > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > > http://www.quadrangle.org [CRV musuem and genealogy library] > > List owner: NewEnglander1620@mail.ccsinet.net > > > > ============================== > > Create a FREE family website at MyFamily.com! > > http://www.myfamily.com/banner.asp?ID=RWLIST2 > > > > > ==== CT-RIVER-VALLEY Mailing List ==== > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl ...type in Ct-River Valley or other mailing list > http://www.acpl.lib.in.us [large genealogy library in Indiana] > > http://www.quadrangle.org (genealogical lib for Conn River area) > > ============================== > Visit Ancestry's Library - The best collection of family history > learning and how-to articles on the Internet. > http://www.ancestry.com/learn/library >